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Holly Springs, county seat of Marshall County, was incorporated in 1837. The first American settlers were slaveholders from Virginia and North Carolina who developed cotton plantations. They named the town for John Marshall, the Supreme Court justice. The completion of the Mississippi Railway line to Holly Springs made it easier to ship goods to market, and the plantation economy grew rich off the cotton profits. Toward the end of the century, the Kansas City, Memphis, and Birmingham Railroad intersected with this line. During the 19th century, the town boasted six schools located on College Avenue and at the military schools located at both ends of the town. With the advent of the railroad and educational institutions, Holly Springs became an attractive town for Jewish merchants. Although the community never reached more than 50 Jews, the ones who settled there left a lasting legacy.

Early settlers: Most of Holly Spring early Jews were immigrants from Eastern Europe, France, and Germany. The plantation dotted landscape surrounded by forests resembled the countryside of their former homes. In 1858, I.C. Levy, a French immigrant, started his clothing store in Holly Springs, and his family remained successful for over three generations. Levy was also a member of the building committee for the local Masonic temple, and was active in the Home Guards in the 34th Mississippi Regiment during the Civil War.

Order Number 11: In the winter of 1862, General Ulysses S. Grant and his troops wintered in the bustling antebellum town of Holly Springs. In order to control the cotton trade in the area for use in the North, the United States Treasury Department mandated that all merchants in the Deep South sell their cotton at a price of 25 cents per pound. Merchants and farmers had to take an oath on this order and follow this government-created cotton monopoly system. Union officers believed that Jewish traders were subverting the system and smuggling cotton elsewhere in an attempt to make a profit. These officers decided to act in order to maintain economic order in the region, and on December 17, 1862, General Grant issued General Order Number 11, a decree that expelled all Jews from Holly Springs and the rest of the military district under his control. This applied even to Jews who were not involved in the cotton trade. General Grant claimed that Jews were “a curse to the army.” This order angered Jews nationwide, and after intense lobbying from Jewish leaders, President Abraham Lincoln soon rescinded it in 1864.

Jewish life in the late 19th century: Despite this turmoil, Jewish life persisted in Holly Springs. Jewish merchants like Charles Schneider sold dry goods in 1870. Some families owned cotton plantations as well. By 1878 around fifty Jews, including the Shumacker, Behr, Meyer, Grosskin, Leibson, and Sessel families, lived in the Marshall County area. . Many of these were Russian immigrants who had come to American fleeing persecution in their home country.The town was not large enough to have its own synagogue, so most Jews attended High Holiday services in nearby Memphis. Some Holly Springs residents did marry in the town with many non-Jews in attendance. Jews enjoyed such amicable relations with their Christian neighbors that some Jews attended the First Presbyterian Church. According to oral history accounts, the church’s tolerant and wholesome nature attracted Jews to come on Sundays without appeals for conversion. This practice continued even as late as the 1960s when some of the last Jews left Holly Springs. In fact, the Kohner family of the 1960s specifically requested burial in the Presbyterian Hillcrest Cemetery.In small places like Holly Springs, such high degrees of acceptance and assimilation also led to interfaith marriages. In the 1920s, the South Reporter described an Oxford, Mississippi gentleman named Sam Friedman marrying a Christian woman and celebrating Easter with non-Jewish families. As in most towns, wishing everyone a good Christmas or a happy Easter was commonplace among Jewish businessmen.

20th century businesses:Jews found success as business owners. In the early 1900s, Isidor Blumenthal’s Lady’s Clothing Store sold quality goods at bargain fair prices. The Shumacker brothers outfitted men with all types of clothing, and their success translated into other ventures. For example, one of the brothers became a director on the executive board of Merchants’ & Farmers’ Bank. Successful merchants typically entered this field of commerce, and this bank of Holly Springs always featured at least one Jewish member for many decades. In the 1920s, Mr. H. Myers ran a haberdashery called “The Style Shop,” and Leo Leibson excelled in the sale of high quality shoes and shoe repair. Other 20th century Jewish stores in Holly Springs included I. C. Levy Department Store, and the shorter-lived Esler’s store. Jews also worked in other professions. For instance, Dr. J.W. Rothchild, an optometrist based out of Oxford Mississippi, advertised his services in the Holly Springs newspaper. For many years, Dr. Rothchild traveled to an outpost in Holly Springs on a weekly basis to assist with the eye-care needs of the community.As the twentieth century progressed, the economy of northern Mississippi shifted. The mechanization of the cotton industry meant less sharecroppers as customers for Jewish merchants. As cotton prices fell, land was devalued, prompting many Jews landowners to move on. Given Holly Springs’ proximity to Memphis, most of the younger generations moved there along with other bigger cities where there were greater economic opportunities of Memphis. Holly Spring’s Jewish population decreased to 19 by 1937.The Levys and the Kohners were the last Jewish families in Holly Springs, and they had either moved or passed on by 1970, marking the end of the Holly Springs Jewish community. Many locals remember the great Jewish citizens who once resided in Holly Springs, members who contributed to multiple facets of society. In a place where southern culture is still very strong, Holly Springs is a tourist treasure. Its close location to Memphis might mean a resurgence of Jewish life in the future.

Primary sources:Crime: Jews living in Holly Springs were subject to their share of crime. One local peddler, Marcus Lewis was murdered in 1879 by John Connelly.[1] The following is an article about a Jewish merchant being swindled by a forger claiming to be a United States detective:http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045160/1880-12-01/ed-1/seq-4/jpgs in miss filesA civil rights worker in Holly Springs: A Philadelphia native, Larry Rubin was born June 23, 1942. In 1961, he began working to register voters in the South for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. In late 1963 and for all of 1964, Mr. Rubin worked as a civil rights activist in Marshall County, Mississippi.http://digilib.usm.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/coh/id/9866/rec/58